Winder Archives

Winder’s auditor told the city council’s Finance Committee on Jan. 9 that the town should impose a storm water tax to cover the costs of maintaining the storm water system.
An effort by the previous administration to impose the tax in 2010 was defeated after local business owners opposed the creation of a new tax during the recession. The city has covered the costs of maintaining the ditches and culverts of the storm water system by transferring money from the city’s general operating fund.
For the full story, see the Jan. 15 issue of the Barrow Journal.

Revenues at the Chimneys Golf Course almost kept up with operating expenses during the first three months that Winder’s city government owned it.
City finance director Leslie Henderson told the Winder City Council’s Finance Committee last week that from Sept. 17-Dec. 31, operating expenses were $173,400 and revenues were $164,600.
The operating shortfall was only $8,800, even though there were 25 days during the period that the course was unplayable due to weather conditions.
For the full story, see the Jan. 15 issue of the Barrow Journal.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has agreed to Winder officials’ request to amend the city’s existing water withdrawal permit to significantly increase the city’s access to Fort Yargo State Park’s lake when the city's primary source of water — the Mulberry River — is running low.
Until now, the city system has been restricted to using only up to 1 million gallons of water per day during drought emergencies. But the amendment will give Winder about 391 million gallons of raw water storage capacity in the lake for times of drought, and in exchange, the city will improve some facilities used by recreational boaters at the lake.
“To minimize the effects on recreational facility use at Lake Yargo during the drought conditions… the City of Winder will commit to making one-time improvements at the following areas of Fort Yargo State Park: Campground Boat Ramp, Two Campground Boat/Fishing Docks, the Area ‘B’ Boat Ramp and Courtesy Dock, and the Beach/Boat Rental area,” states the special conditions attached to the amended permit.
Even with the larger permitted withdrawals, the city cannot reduce the lake level below 818.4 feet mean sea level, according to the special conditions. But if that happens, the permit allows the city also to take up to 1 million gallons of water per day from Cedar Creek.

The frigid weather that gripped most of the nation Tuesday played havoc with Winder’s utilities department, where employees responded to about 300 reports of either frozen pipes or loss of natural gas service.
Director Roger Wilhelm told the Winder City Council Tuesday night that his department had fielded about 150 calls in the morning about loss of natural gas service and just as many calls throughout the day about frozen water pipes — many from commuters who discovered their broken pipes after arriving home from work Tuesday afternoon.
Tuesday’s low plunged to about 6 degrees Fahrenheit, and the high didn’t make it above 28, according to online weather information.
“It’s been a long day,” Wilhelm said, noting that one of his employees was assigned exclusively to taking calls for service all day long.
There were a couple of areas in town that experienced very low pressure in the natural gas lines, he said.
“With the extra cold temperatures, we started the day out with a very wide pressure spring in the natural gas system…,” he said. “In the early part of the day we were making a lot of adjustments to the natural gas system.”
Most of the afternoon calls were about broken water pipes.
“There have been a lot of broken pipes,” he told the council just after 6 p.m., adding: “We have two crews working on main breaks right now.”
One of the areas most affected by the loss of gas pressure was the Villas at Winder, an over-55 residential community of more than 200 homes off Highway 11 just north of downtown.
Resident Bill Brown said the entire development — that uses natural gas for heat, for hot water heaters, and for gas logs— lost service.

Barrow Regional Medical Center welcomed the first baby born in 2014. Justin and Amanda Coleman of Winder became the parents of a baby girl, Alaina.
Alaina was born on January 3 at 3:27 pm. She weighed 7.3 lbs and was 20.25 inches long.

The Winder City Council on Monday night agreed to spend about $2,200 to get rid of a family of beavers whose home building in the city’s stormwater system is causing some minor, but chronic flooding.
Public works director Ken Chalker said a property owner earlier this year called his department after noticing water pooling in a ditch in woods behind his home near the corner of Lake Drive and Howard Circle behind Winder First United Methodist Church.
City workers went looking for the source of the problem and discovered a beaver dam of sticks, leaves and mud in a ditch that is part of the public storm water system.
“It makes a neat swimming hole for them,” Chalker said.
The public works crew destroyed the dam, but the problem came back.
“They built it back,” Chalker said.
City workers went back and tore it down again.

For the full story, see the Dec. 31, 2013 edition of the Barrow Journal.

There will be a called meeting of the Winder City Council on Monday, Dec. 30, at 6 p.m. On the agenda are the following items: Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant; service agreement/task order for work on the Auburn Reservoir; contract with Action Critter Removal; agreement for design work at the Winder Fire Department; agreement for design work on the Winder Cultural Arts Center. The meeting will be at the Winder Community Center, 113 E. Athens St.

Seventy-year-old Army veteran Bob Long may be homeless, but he and 13 other veterans at the Northeast Georgia Homeless Veterans Shelter in Winder this week are having a good Christmas.
Long, a Vietnam War vet whose 17-year sales career was sidelined by a stroke, has another reason to celebrate.
When he arrived at the shelter on May 21, he had been in a wheelchair for three years. But as Christmas drew near last week, he was back on his feet, totally mobile, and moving around the two-story shelter on King Street with the energy of a much younger man.
A social worker in the area referred him to the Winder facility.
“She said he’s a nice guy who needs some place to go,” said the shelter’s executive director, Fawn Alexander.
Added board member Jamie Keyes, “It’s been a joy having him here.”
The only lingering effect of Long’s 2010 brain injury is a slight speech problem.
Barely noticeable to anyone but him, it certainly doesn’t stop him from answering the shelter’s phones from 7 a.m. each morning until 2 p.m. each afternoon.
“I’m trying to get my speech back together,” he said.
Asked what the shelter’s care over the past seven months has meant to him, Long responded: “It’s fabulous. It’s sensational. It’s a great situation for someone who is homeless.”
For the full story, see the Dec. 24th issue of the Barrow Journal.

An owner of a former business in downtown Winder was arrested early this morning in connection with an Aug. 22 fire across the street from the historic courthouse.

The Winder Police Department has not announced the arrest of 30-year-old Brandy May Rowley, but the Barrow Journal received a tip over the weekend that she was being charged with arson. According to a booking report from the Barrow County Sheriff's Office, she surrendered at the Barrow County Detention Center at 4:47 a.m. today.

The Rowley family operated Skip's Hawaiian Shaved Ice at 43 N. Broad St. The fire started in the basement of the business late at night, and the first clue that it had been intentionally set was when someone called Barrow County's E-911 Center to report the fire before smoke had become visible outside.

A source said the mother of five set the blaze in order to get out of a lease.